Shame Of Maastricht by Marie N. Hallen (any book recommendations TXT) 📕

“Bas, Bas, if you finish her now, we won’t find out anything” Koen pushed him away. He stopped passing the current, took his phone and untied her hand.

“Please type in the correct password. Don’t make your friends suffer, as you are the only one who has a credit card here.”

Kate was shaking. She didn’t remember how she did it, but she managed to give the password and went limp. Nevertheless he strapped her arm to the frame again.

“Is she alright, Koen?” Bas asked. He was feeling too lazy to get up.

Koen glanced over the bed and touched Kate who was breathing heavily. Her muscles felt like they were being torn apart from the bones and from each other.

“Not sure, Bas, not sure. We’ve done a decent job, but could overdo.”

Kate laughed in a fit or frenzy. Her body shook in convulsions and arched again. She was laughing hysterically with her mouth shut and felt pain in the sutures and if her mouth was trying to open by itself and rip the sutures.

“She is trying to make fun of us, guys. This pathetic joke still tries to make fun of those who can end her life just by pressing one button. Or maybe I got something wrong? That’s shame”

“Shame of the whole Maastricht. Too bad it’s not something we can share and highlight”.

“I’d heat her up a bit more!”

Felix run current again. Kate’s body rocked the bed and another portion of excruciating pain surged her body and paralyzed her mind. She didn’t know how strong the voltage was but insane muscle spasms almost made her black out.

Suddenly Felix stopped his torture device and put away the electrodes.

“We forgot to ask the gentleman. Let’s leave her alone, getting really boring now.”

“Why?”

“We need his car. Or something. This would be unfair if we don’t milk him too. Girls are done now.”

“Later! We need to discuss one more thing.”

They put Kate back to the place where she slept and spent most of her time. She was laying semi-conscious and staring at the ceiling, with her body twitching convulsively. As the agony started fading away, all the pain left somewhere behind, beyond a wall of thick haze which either protected her from shock or signaled that her time was up. A few moments later she realized the pain was still there and it started to break through this veil of haze, growing into a violent monster and gnawing on her insides and every muscle. Koen took her bag, unsealed mouths of the other two prisoners and carried it away. Kate lay in prostration, she was numb and drained. Her body was still twitching beyond her control. It seemed to her that her lungs were encaged and this iron cage was getting more and more narrow, making each breath agonizing. Lotte glanced at her and wanted to come closer, as Luuk distracted her.

“Lotte, they want to take my car,” he began after Koen shut the door. “I wonder how they haven’t find it yet. They have sold yours. Ok, I don’t care about the car itself, I mean do you think there is any chance they will be noticed when they come and start searching for something?”

“I wonder how they haven’t appeared on cameras yet. You said there are no cameras? Are you sure?”

“No I’m not. As far as I know there are none apart from those which are on the road if you drive out. I just don’t understand if they are really so stupid to go back to the crime site especially that my parents are definitely aware of the situation.”

“I know what you mean honey, I’m pretty sure someone may keep an eye on the crime site. Secretly. And if they come back, they will get noticed at some point. I’m sure we will be set free soon.”

“That’s what I mean. My parents aren’t stupid and even that we don’t have neighbours. I’m just afraid we are really far from Maastricht. Too bad we were asleep then. What did they give us? What the hell?”

“One second!” Lotte replied and crawled to Kate who was laying on her back and staring at the ceiling.

“Did you sleep when we were in the car?” she asked Kate.

Kate shook her head in denial.

“How long do you think we were driving?”

Kate waved with her hand showing it was a thirty-minute drive, but also hit the floor trying to explain that she collapsed soon and didn’t remember how they arrived.

“This is not Maastricht, Lotte!” Luuk shouted. “We might be close to Geleen. From what I know there are chemical enterprises and they could have facilities like this one. Fucking asshole… I’m sure he brought us to Geleen!”

Bas came back soon. He brought food for Lotte and Luuk and water for Kate who hadn’t eaten for about two weeks now. Everyone was silent during the dinner and Bas seemed to be happy that he doesn’t have to put extra effort into forcing everyone behave they way he wanted. This time he was sitting on a chair near the metal table and reading something. Other men showed up later and again they had two more chairs, the electrocution kit they tested on Kate before and a toolbox.

“Put that guy here, we need to talk like real men.”

Koen and Felix sat Luuk down on a restraint chair and strapped his hands and feet. They connected the electrodes and were about to run the control box. Kate saw this and got up immediately. She wanted to get closer but decided not to attract their unnecessary attention too soon.

“What does your car look like and where exactly can we find it?” Bas asked.

“I won’t tell you anything. You still haven’t learned how to talk to people in a proper manner. This is not human at all. You can kill me but I don’t want to finance you to give you more power over your next victims. I’m sorry to say this but this is the reason why I don’t want to help. I’m sorry for your parents as well. No offense.”

This time Bas didn’t get irritated or offended. He glanced at Luuk, walked around him and looked at his body. Even while restrained, Luuk seemed to inspire respect even in people like Bas. With his shredded body he resembled Hercules embodied. Bas wanted to prove he could overpower even Hercules or the whole legion, to destroy someone who had an advantage over him. Now that Luuk was deprived of the opportunity to fight back, Bas couldn’t miss the chance to show his dominance over everyone in this room.

“I want to know what your car looks like. And I also want to know how I can contact you parents.”

“My car was in the yard. There were just a few cars and if you failed to see mine, that’s because you’re extremely stupid. You have no key. Try to sell my car without a key! I would love to see that!”

“Guys have been to your room. They were searching everywhere and they found your girlfriend’s key. Her car is sold now but this money is not enough to pay off the debt.”

“How much do you need then?”

“Ok I will tell you. I need more than fifty thousand. For my parents. And I will make your parents pay.”

“If my key wasn’t there, then I don’t know. You should search better or leave me alone. You are milking wrong people. If I had that key with me, I’d shove it down your throat, choke on it!” with these words Luuk tried to spit in his enemy’s face but didn’t reach him.

“Enough. You will tell me everything. And the address of your parents too. Come on, Felix!”

“I’m starting and it’s is not something you could enjoy, Luuk!” Felix began the torture session but started with low voltage. Luuk writhed in pain and started shaking. First he tried to remain patient, but totally lost control over his body as well as ability to speak and went numb with his face twitching in agony. He was almost paralyzed but endured thirty seconds of torture.

“Let him go!” Lotte screamed but couldn’t do anything. “Don’t do it! Please don’t torture him!”

Lotte rushed forward, tripped on the chain on her leg and fell over, hitting her face against the floor. She forgot she was too far from everyone and reached out for Luuk but the chair was still several meters away. She screamed in despair, baring her bloody teeth, and covered her face with her hands, weeping as loud as she could. Kate started crawling to his feet at her full speed. No one noticed how she got there, but she managed to tear out one of the electrodes attached to his leg and shock herself. She fell down at Luuk’s feet and Felix stopped the hell machine. The torture session was interrupted. Luuk was shaking and breathing intermittently. Before they could take another step, Bas received a phone call. He left the room immediately. There was service in the basement and he could even make online calls. The men wanted to follow him but he stopped them. Felix and and Koen pulled out the guns and told everyone not to make a sound. Bas came back in thirty minutes.

“Ok, stop for now! he commanded but his voice sounded broken. “I still have an ace up my sleeve even if we don’t get the goddamn car or the rest of the money his parents promised us… Even if we don’t get anything.” Bas sounded as creative and high, as never before. He taped Luuk’s mouth and went out. Then he was holding Kate’s bag and it was open. He called the rest of the crew to the table so that the prisoners couldn’t hear them.

“Why don’t you just share with us?” Koen seemed to be really intrigued. After all it was Bas who came up with all the torture tactics and Koen did admire him secretly. He would never engage in such an activity if it was someone else who guided him instead of Bas.

“He killed them. He killed them both. It’s too late now. It doesn’t mean I don’t owe them any more though. I still have to pay everything back,” Bas explained and took a deep breath. He was about to start crying. “But I found out one thing… Not that I’m really interested or care… But... No, if I say I care, it will be a lie. But if I say I don’t, that would also be a lie...” his voice sank and he wiped a tear from his eye but no one noticed this.

“You are surprising me, Bas,” Felix wondered but his eyes expressed compassion. It seemed that some of them were capable of human emotions. “I’m really sorry to hear, mate... I would kill those assholes. It’s all their fault. If they answered our questions properly and on time, who knows, maybe your old ones would be still alive.”

Bas was holding Kate’s phone. He scrolled through the gallery and found pictures of her and Luuk from the last year when they were together. He didn’t say anything but was just staring at it at a loss.

“Those love affairs, you know… Like I say, not that I would care much… But still curious to try out one thing.” he said thoughtfully. “Let’s touch up a game scenario a little, just to make things a bit more interesting and put some drive into it. May he choose. I just want to know.”

“Will be really interesting. Don’t tell them anything yet. It’s just my idea to spice it up.”

Bas got up and moved his chair away, then left the room. He brought another box and a plastic bag and called Sven who put two chairs together.

“Ok